


Freshman Blues

by Robin Lee (maydaysmusings)



Series: High School Never Ends [1]
Category: NCT (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-07-28 05:04:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20058475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maydaysmusings/pseuds/Robin%20Lee
Summary: Life may be messy, but life in high school is even messier.Freshman Blues: Follow the gang through their first year of high school every single week.





	1. The Kids Aren't Alright (Week 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet this wild group of misfits...

Cordelia groans as she sits up in bed, her alarm blaring next to her, “Okay, I get it,” she grunts in her gravelly morning voice and shuts it off. Sliding out from under her blanket, she stands and stretches, her back popping as she does, then makes her way to her closet, grabbing out whatever is clean from the floor, only her nicer clothes hung up. Slumping to the bathroom, she brushes out her knotted hair and brushes her teeth before getting dressed, a top that stopped just below her belly button and cargo pants that hung low on her waist with bulky boots that laced around the calves. She looks in the mirror and shrugs, going back to her room and stuffing everything she needed into her messenger bag and heading downstairs, fastening her watch to her wrist.

“Morning, sweetie. Quiet, your dad’s still sleeping,” her mom says from the dimly lit kitchen, her tv on low as she cuts up fruit for her husband for breakfast.

Cordelia nods and walks over, “I’m gonna leave early, okay? I’ll take something with me.” She heads to the cabinets and grabs a few snacks, putting them in her bag before kissing her mom’s head. “You have my car today, Taeil’s picking me up.”

“Okay, baby, be careful. I love you.” She kisses her daughter’s cheek and pats her arm, “I’d say take a jacket, but you won’t need it.”

“Of course not, he’s always got me covered. I love you too. Bye, momma,” she skips out the door, grabbing her skateboard from beside it as she leaves the gate and waits for the van to pull up.

A hand waves to her from the window as it drives up, blaring some rock song as Taeil grins through the window, “Morning, gorgeous.”

“Morning,” she grins and leans in, kissing him softly through the window, getting a whistle from the passenger seat. “Morning, Hunny,” she smirks over Taeil’s shoulder at Jaehyun in the front seat before she heads to the back, getting on her board and holding onto the back bumper, “Go!” He holds on as they take off, speeding down the streets of their neighbourhood while she cackles from behind, one hand up in the air as she clings to the van with the other.

They whip around a corner and she goes a little to the left and almost gets knocked off by someone stepping off the curb, “Hey! Watch out, man!” She calls back.

Johnny blinks as he watches the girl go down the street, but not bothering to pull out his headphones, just grunting a, “Fucking punks.” He heads down the street, deciding to walk this morning, since it was the first day and he wasn’t thrilled about going to high school, if he was honest. He sees the van pull around the corner, the small girl still hanging onto the back.

He sighs as he walks, thinking about the end of the day already, because then he got to come home, work on his photos and not worry about anyone at school. Except for Seren and Hendery, of course. The only two friends he really had at this point. He loses himself in his thoughts until he reaches their school and slumps, walking in.

He goes to the office first to get his I.D. photo taken and get his locker number and combination, then his class schedule. He looks it over and gives a soft sigh, closing his eyes for a moment as he stands in the hallway to collect himself.

Snapping out of it, heads for his locker and groans, seeing two people pressed to it and shoos them away, “Please go procreate elsewhere?” He opens it and shoves his books in from his backpack, startled as someone taps his hip and he pulls out his headphones, “Huh-Oh, Ren, hey.” He smiles and leans down to peck her cheek, “What’s up?”

“I’m trying out for the cheer team.” The short girl looks up at him, shrugging, holding her books to her chest.

“Excuse me?” He laughs, “You’re really gonna go for it? I thought you were just kidding about that.”

“You’ve only known me a year, so you can’t really tell, huh?” She laughs and leans against the other lockers next to his. “But, I want to because I’m good at gymnastics and some of my friends are trying out, so why not?”

“What time are the try outs?”

“Three o’clock on the filed.”

“I’ll be there.”

“Thank you, John,” she smiles and pecks his cheek, “What class do you have first?”

“I have…English, you?” Johnny asks, looking over his schedule.

“Social studies,” she sighs and slumps a bit, “Walk me there? It’s on the second floor.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” He laughs and shuts his locker, putting an arm around her as they go upstairs, “So, can you do the splits, too?”

“I can. But, why?”

“Just very curious is all…You said friends were trying out?”

“I don’t think they’d go for Edgar Allan Poe, Suh.”

“Damn,” he chuckles, walking towards her classroom, “I’m excited to watch you, though. I know you love gymnastics and yelling. Oh, god, the yelling.”

“Aren’t you in for a treat?” She laughs, patting his chest as she pulls back, “See you at lunch?”

“I have lunch A.”

“Perfect! See you then!” She runs in and Johnny walks off to his class, with a few seconds to spare as he sits down in one of the available desks. He watches more students pile in and lets his mind wander.

The lunch bell rings and the students are out of their seats in the blink of an eye, racing each other towards the lines as Johnny just walks leisurely into the cafeteria, looking around at the tables. He hears the footsteps before the voice and chuckles, “Hey, Hen. Hey, Lu.”

“Hi, John!” Hendery, his cousin, beams up at him. They’d been close since diapers and Johnny was lucky Hendery had skipped 5th grade so they could be in middle school and high school together.

“Nice to see you too, John,” Lucas chuckles. He was one of Ren’s friends that he’d become close with. He didn’t know much about him, other than he and Ren had beef a few years back, but were fine, now. “Figuring out the layout?”

“What do you mean?”

“The cafeteria. Where to sit and not to sit.”

“Oh…I was just looking for Ren.”

“She’s gonna be by the punks, skaters and stoners.”

“Why?”

“She’s got friends in low places,” he chuckles and leads them over to where Ren is in fact sitting with a group of people, all mismatched and odd, but seemingly getting along. Jungwoo, her best friend, is seated next to her, a boy with black hair is beside him and blonde girl is next to him. Johnny sits on the other side of Seren, Hendery and Lucas taking the other two seats. He scans around them, a mint-haired boy and black-haired one are locked in a kiss, a girl with blue streaks and heavy eyeliner is having a banana shoved in her mouth by a cackling pink-haired boy while Jungwoo has started nuzzling the boy next to him.

“Quite the group, Ren.”

“Yeah, well, they’re mine,” she chuckles and leans on his shoulder, which makes his heart does something funny, but he shrugs it off. Pretty girl. Close proximity. Hormones. Simple biology. He pecks her head and relaxes, eating the lunch he’d packed.

Kiara, the blonde, laughs at something Lucas says and it catches his attention because she had a similar laugh to the girl he’d met that morning. But, that couldn’t be her. No way. He finds himself grabbing Ren’s sketchbook and scribbling a sketch of the scene that morning, getting it off his mind.

“What’s that?” Ren asks, looking over and something on her face seems to recognize it.

“Nothing…I nearly knocked some girl off a board this morning before they were doing this this morning and I wanna get it off my mind.”

She recognizes the girl as her friend, Cordelia, the one that had the banana shoved down her throat by Jimin at the other table and bit her tongue to not correct the placement of her feet on the board. 

She was right-handed, not left, her feet were wrong. She smiles to herself and laughs inwardly; Johnny hated punks, but Seren’s closest friend was one.

When the bell rings, she takes the drawing with her and catches up with Cordelia at her locker, “Hey, you. I got something for you. My friend drew it.” She hands it over to her.

“Oh…why?” She laughs, then gasps, “Wait, your friend almost got me hurt this morning!”

“He was the one who told you to skitch to school?” She hums and watches as Cor uses gum to stick it to her locker door.

“Okay, okay, but he needs to look before he crosses the street,” she says, grabbing her books and putting them in her bag. “You still coming to the try outs today?”

“Of course, aren’t you?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Momma’s gonna be so proud,” she snorts and rolls her eyes, “And yes, I’ll take off my make-up before that.”

“Thank youuuuu,” Ren sing songs and skips off to class, bumping into Lyn Anh, “Oh, sorry!” She gasps and kneels to help her pick up her books. Lyn was who everyone knew would be valedictorian in second grade and a good friend to Seren and Cordelia.

“Thanks, Ren! See you later!” She runs down, stopping as she sees Cordelia at her locker, “He,y have you seen Kiara?”

“She was in my lunch, she has art next. Why?”

“She forgot her art project at my house.” She sighs.

“I’ll walk you,” she chuckles and throws an arm around her, slamming her locker shut and heading down the hallway. “I missed ya this summer.”

“I missed you too, Mochi,” Lyn sighs and relaxes into her, knowing she wouldn’t get in trouble if Cor could help it. Cor’s older sister had just graduated and Cor knew all of the teachers and staff like friends. She walks into the classroom and waves at Kiara, Lyn holding up her folder to her, “Missing something, Ki?”

“Oh my god, thank you!” Kiara hugs Lyn as she takes it. “I thought I was done for!” Kiara had been best friends with Cordelia for a while and to everyone else, the pair were sisters. Her and Lyn got along well due to similar interests and the fact that they could just read around each other and nothing else, which is why Ki forgot her art project in the first place.

“You’ve already got a project due? Lay off ‘em, Mr. Kang!”

“Don’t you have a class to get to, Cordleia?”

“Fiiiine, fine,” she pecks Kiara’s head and leads Lyn out, “Where to?”

“Third floor. Biology.”

“Me too,” Cor grins and walks with her, leaning on her slightly, sitting next to her at one of the lab tables. “Guess we’re partners.”

“Thank god,” Lyn chuckles and hugs her side.

Cor watches the door as kids pass by, one of them being Athena Rae, a rank below Lyn on the food chain, but still an academic badass. She walks down the hall towards the auditorium, opting to spend her lunch with the theatre group at her school.

“Nana!” A brunette calls from the stage and waves. Athena’s best friend, Grace Lucette, a sweet and loving person, but with a steak of mean that could ruin anyone’s lives if they deserved it.

“Hi, Gracie,” She smiles and heads up on stage with her, “How are you?”

“I’m good. It’s nice in here. You?”

“Just fine. I got good teachers it seems, so that’d good,” she smiles and sits with her on the stage, eating their brown bagged lunches.

“Are you gonna watch the cheer try outs during practice?”

“I mean, I could, but I don’t really understand the appeal of cheer.”

“Because you’re an athlete. I think they’re cute with their school spirit and such,” Grace says, shrugging.

“Softie,” Athena teases and lays her head in Grace’s lap, letting her stoke and braid it as she usually did.

“Any news on the student council front?”

“No. But, I don’t think Lyn is gonna run for president, so I might.”

“I’ll make some poster mock ups with Cor tonight after try outs.”

“You guys are hanging out?”

“Yeah, we agreed we would. Maybe we could all hang out?”

“Text her and ask?”

Grace nods and sends a text to Cordelia, then pockets her phone. The two sit in silence under the stage lights until the bell rings and Athena whines as she sits up. “Guess it’s time for class.”

“Yeah,” Grace pouts and hops up, helping her friend up as they leave, the lights going out after they shut the doors to the auditorium.

Grace meets up with Athena at the end of the day and spots Phoenix with her gym bag, “Hey! Nix! Where ya goin’?” She asks as they catch up to her, “Softball isn’t this early…”

“I know, but I still wanna keep in shape,” Nix laughs as they walk, “Plus I promised Ren and Cor that I’d be here. I think Lyn and Kiara are coming, too.”

“Kiara, I can see, but Lyn?” Athena chuckles, “That’s weird, She’s never allowed to stay.”

“Maybe we can figure out this night!”

“We could,” Athena nods.

“What night?”

“Cor and I are hanging out tonight and I was gonna see if everyone could hang out.”

“I can’t, I have to go shopping with my mom,” Nix groans.

“Damn.”

“I think I might be able to, depending on what Cor says. Did she ever text you back?”

“Let me check…” She pulls out her phone and huffs, “Her mom says just me since it’s a school night and she knows I’ll make us sleep.”

“Ever responsible Gracie,” Nix chuckles as they reach the field and her and Athena head off to go put their stuff down and warm up.

Grace spots Lyn and Kiara in the bleachers and sits with them, smiling, “Hey, guys.”

“Hi, hi,” Kiara waves, leaning on Lyn, “You haven’t missed anything.”

“Good!” Grace smiles, leaning back, looking at the folder on Kiara’s lap, “Is that a project?”

“Yeah, here,” she hands over a folder full of scratchboards of flowers, detailed and lovely.

“Oh…these are awesome! You’re good!”

“Thanks,” Kiara smiles as she collects them back, “I did a bunch that I gave Cordelia because they didn’t make the final cut.”

“If you ever give those up, I’ll take one.”

“Once the year is over, you can have them,” she grins at her.

“Thank you! …Oh, Lyn, are you running for president this year?”

“I don’t think so, why? Athena running?”

“I think she might.”

“Good for her!” Lyn smiles.

“I like that you guys aren’t terrible to each other.”

“We’re friends before anything, you know that.”

“Of course.”

“Hey,” comes a voice from a boy with pins on his leather jacket and untied sneakers, “Mind if I sit here?”

Grace recognizes him as Cordelia’s boyfriend and shakes her head. “Go ahead, it’s gonna start soon,” She smiles and looks up as the cheer coach starts to call numbers, waiting for their girls to be called. As soon Cor is called, they screech, clapping and hollering.

Johnny frowns at the trio of girls in the bleachers screaming for one of the girls on the field and he sticks his earbuds in, waiting for Ren, missing their screams when she came up and just watching her to the sounds of AFI in his ears. She was so graceful it was breathtaking, since she was rather clutzy in real life. He claps as she’s finished and waits to meet with her until try outs are over, watching as her and two other girls meet with the trio in the bleachers. He groans, “Of course she’d be friends with loud girls.”

He stands and heads over, Ren seeing him and bouncing, “John! There’s some girls I want you to meet!” She pulls him over, introducing him one-by-one to them. She points the near blonde he'd thought was the mystery punk, “This is Kiara.” Then to the black-haired girl, “This is Lyn.” Then to the brunette,” “This is Grace.” She points to another brunette trapped under some guy with dark brown hair, “That’s Ronnie and that’s Taeil. Sorry.” She laughs, “And this-“

Johnny looks over to the girl whose next and takes the hand extended to him by the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen, “H-hi, I’m Johnny.”

“Bethany,” the blonde smiles and shakes his hand, lingering before letting go.

Seren giggles and hums, “We should go get changed, so we can go home.” She manages to pry Cordelia, or Ronnie, out from under Taeil and drags them off.

Johnny feels he recognizes the hair on Ronnie, but one look at Beth and it’s all he sees. He plops down, “Wow…she’s pretty…”

“She’s single,” Kiara pipes up, “Beth.”

“I-Is she?” He looks up at her as she sits one bench above him.

“Yeah, she’s in theatre, come by and you can probably talk to her.”

“Thanks…”

“No problem…oh, Lyn, we gotta go. Nice to meet you, Johnny. See you all later!” She says as the two head off to get home.

Taeil and Grace sit on either side of Johnny, but sit in a rather comfortable silence as they watch everyone else practice before someone bounds towards them.

Seren grabs Johnny’s hand, “Let’s go. I’m hungry!” She laughs and waves to the other two as she heads off.

Cordelia is there a few seconds later, “Let’s get a move on, y’all.” She cuddles into Grace’s side as they walk and makes lude comments about Taeil’s ass as they walk, him definitely posing in front of them for their entertainment.

Grace rolls her eyes and climbs in the back of Taeil’s van, Cor sitting with her as they’re taken back to Cor’s place. “So, you think you made it?”

“I’m not sure. But, I hope so. Was I good?”

“You were incredible! You and Ren killed it!”

“Yeah, you guys were terrific!” Taeil nods form the front seat.

“I hope we get it!” Cordelia laughs, “I hate the peppiness of it, but I love the fun of it!”

She sits up and kisses Taeil as they arrive at her house, “See you tomorrow, baby.” She hums and hops out, Grace waving to Taeil as she gets out with her. The two head in and say hi to her parents, going down into the basement room.

“So you and Taeil are still going strong,” Grace smiles as they sit on her bed. 

“Yeah, well, we were always best friends before that, so why not keep it going, ya know?”

“You two are cute together,” Grace smiles at her.

“Thank you!” Cordelia laughs, “Ready for your bass lesson?” She asks, pulling out a bass from the rack against her wall, sitting behind Grace to help her with chords and such, guiding her. They’d been at this for months after Grace showed the tiniest bit of interest and Cor jumped at the chance to teach her and she’d honestly gotten good in just a short amount of time.

“Dude,” Cordelia says when they finish practicing, “You’re gonna get better than I am.”

“Awesome!” Grace teases and stretches before grabbing her laptop out, “Also, I offered Nana out services in design. Well, my service in design and your service in computers.”

“Anything for Nana. What’s it for?” She lays next to her on the bed to look at the screen.

“Her run for student council president.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, apparently Lyn isn’t running and she’s excited for Nana to do it.”

“They’re the most confusing friends,” Cordelia laughs and pulls over her own laptop to start on a poster, “Any ideas?”

“Not really,” Grace laughs, “Could we get brain food?”

“I’ll be right back,” Cordelia runs upstairs and comes back down with snacks, dumping them on the bed, “Okay, let’s think…”

The girls get a few ideas going and even design a couple of posters, but end up spending the night talking about boys, school and what they’re hoping for out of high school. None of it serious, really, but it makes the night pass quickly before they’re crawling into bed.

Grace melts as she watches Cor put her night guard in and climb in with her, “I hate that thing. It’s like kryptonite.”

Cordelia laughs and it gives her a lisp as she says, “Ren’s retainer does the same to me.”

Grace huffs and makes her cuddle with her, “Night, Cordykins.”

“Night, Honeybun,” she hums and nuzzles as they drift off.

The next morning, Cordelia’s mom makes them breakfast as the two sleepily chatter about the mock-ups and when Grace’s next lesson will be. “Momma, look, whaddya think?” Cor shows her one on her laptop.

“You guys did that? It looks great. Athena’s running?”

“Yeah, but Lyn isn’t,” Grace nods.

“Well, at least it won’t get ugly,” her mom jokes and kisses their heads as Taeil’s van pulls up, “Your ride’s here, girls. It was nice seeing you, Grace.”

“You too, Mama Marino,” she kisses her cheek as she heads out, Cor following her out with a kiss to her mom’s cheek as well.

“Sleep well?” Taeil asks as they climb in.

“Very,” Cordelia hums, “You may have competition.”

“She wins, already. She’s pretty and has boobs. Your type.”

“Yeah, why am I dating you again?”

“Rude.”

Cordelia laughs and leans on Grace, “I think Athena will like these.”

“Me too, honestly. And if she doesn’t, then she can help make new ones.”

“Exactly,” Cordelia laughs. “Maybe Saturday we can all hang out!”

“That’d be awesome!”

“All of us?” Taeil asks.

“I see you on Sunday, relax.”

He pouts as he parks his van and opens the back doors for them, letting them out as he grabs his bag. “You guys are nice doing that for her.”

“She’s our friend,” Grace shrugs, “It’s what you do. Thanks for the ride, Taeil.”

“Anytime, Grace,” he smiles and pecks her cheek before letting her go inside and turning to Cordelia, “As for you. Let’s go see if you made it.” He leads her inside and towards the bulletin board, letting her look and chuckling as she starts to bounce. “Well?”

“I made it!”

“Congrats, beautiful,” he pecks her lips.

“I gotta find Ren,” she hums as she pulls back. “We can continue this later?”

“Yeah, yeah…she’s coming now,” he chuckles and pecks her head, walking away, kissing Ren’s head on the way as well.

“So?!” Seren asks and Cordelia just points to the paper. Seren scans it and squeals, hugging her best friend, “We did it! I gotta go tell the guys! See you later?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Cordelia calls after her as he bolts away.

She nearly takes herself out as she rams straight into Johnny’s arm, “Jeez, Ren! You okay?!”

“Yeah! I made it!”

“I see that. And you stuck the landing.”

“No! I made the squad!”

“Oh, shit! Congrats!” He laughs and hugs her, “You were great, though. Of course you made it, Seren!”

“I’m so excited!” She laughs, watching as Hendery, Lu and Jungwoo round the corner.

“See, you can’t even be happy for other couples, Lu. That’s why we broke up.”

“Woo, I had to watch you making out with your boyfriend.”

“Still,” Jungwoo shrugs.

Hendery sends them a look of ‘help me,’ and Seren jumps right in, “Guys! I’m a cheerleader!”

“Hey! That’s my girl!” Jungwoo hugs her, “So am I!”

“What?!” Seren grins.

“Yep, me and Ten!”

“Awesome!” She hugs him again as the other three groan. They would only be louder, now. They chatter as they all disperse in directions and Hendery thinks that’s as loud as it’ll get, but he’s wrong.

He walks in to see Seren’s friend Ronnie giggling as Jimin does a cheer in front of her, spelling out Seren and Cor with makeshift pompoms. “I can’t believe you’re a fucking cheerleader,” Jaehyun says from his seat, shaking his head. “You.”

“It’s unnatural,” Jungkook pipes up, laughing as he eats his food.

“Leave her alone, it’s good for her and Ren,” Namjoon pulls away from Yoongi’s lips just long enough to say before he’s kissing him again.

“Besides, she looks damn good in a skirt,” Taeil laughs. “They both do.”

“Thank you!” Ren calls over and Cordelia cackles, Jimin now shimmying in front of the tables.

Hendery rubs his temples and drops his head to the table. Great. High school was gonna be even longer and a lot louder than he had thought.


	2. I Want You Around (Week 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jin grows a pair and Kiara spooks Cordelia.

Athena smiles as she looks at the newest mock ups on the screen of Cordelia’s TV where they broadcasted it from her laptop, “I like them! What do you guys think?” She turns to the six other girls all piled on Cordelia’s couch or on the floor on pillows.

“I like them,” Kiara nods, “I think you could win with them.”

“Honestly they’re better than what I could’ve made,” Lyn admits.

“It’s a great picture of you, too,” Phoenix nods as she munches on some popcorn from their shared bowl.

“You guys did a really good job on them,” Seren smiles.

“We’ll put them up next week, so we’re not super eager,” Athena nods and sits back down, letting the music switch back on instead of the photos.

“Who’s running against you?” Grace asks as she braids Cordelia’s hair, the girl dozing from the scalp massage she was getting just a minute before.

“No one for class president, but for student council president, a lot of seniors. But, who knows…maybe I’ll get lucky?”

“/That/ lucky? I don’t doubt you could win class, but…against seniors…” Lyn bites her lip, typing on her phone. “Either way, though, we support you.”

“I know and I appreciate it,” Athena smiles at them.

“Alright. Gimme the phone, Sweet Pea,” Cordelia says as her hair in finished and she holds out her hand for it.

“What?! Why?!” Lyn whines and swats playfully at her hand, “No.”

“Who are you texting then? You’ve been all giggly and blushy all night.”

“…No one.”

“Tell us!” Kiara urges, turning to look at her, the rest of them following suit.

“…Jin, okay?” She sighs and shows them, “He’s been flirting with me!”

“He has?” Cordelia looks at the messages and smiles, “He finally made a move.”

“Excuse me?”

“He’s had a crush on you for like two years, now.”

“He what?!”

“Yeah, you seriously had no idea?”

“No!”

“Wow…Well, yeah, he’s had a pretty bad thing for you…” She chuckles, “Hopefully he’ll just ask you out, now.”

“Maybe he will,” she blushes, looking down.

“I could talk to him?”

“No. I don’t wanna force him.” She texts back on her phone to his message and giggles a bit.

“God, you two are already in love,” Cordelia groans.

“Like you aren’t in love with Taeil?” Kiara teases and Cordelia goes pink.

“We…shut up,” she laughs, tossing a piece of popcorn at her.

“You are!” Kiara laughs and nudges Cordelia.

“Moving on! But speaking of Taeil, we finally got our band! Kookie fully learned the guitar, so we got our fourth! It was worth the wait!”

“You finally got it up and running?” Phoenix claps, “Good for you! It’s only been two years!”

“We were in the 7th grade, okay? It took a while!” Cordelia snorts.

Grace laughs, “Leave my baby alone! She’s doing it now!”

“That’s true,” Phoenix nods, “You are doing it.”

“Ha!” Cordelia snorts and then plops back against Grace, snuggling back into her.

“We’re proud,” Grace kisses her head.

After a while, the conversation shifts and everyone gets sleepy, so Cordelia sets up her bed for them, a king big enough to fit them all, as long as they cuddled and laid a certain way. Her mom had been nice enough to let them sleepover on a Sunday, as long as they promised to sleep and sleep they did.

Her mom wakes them up and makes them a nice little breakfast before sending them out, collecting cheek kisses at the door. “Are you girls walking?”

“Yes, momma. I’ll see you tonight?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” She grabs her board and steps out with them, going in front of them on her board, but moving slow so they could all stay a group.

“So, how’s track going?” Kiara asks Athena.

“Actually, it’s funner that I expected. The girls aren’t nearly as mean as in middle school, so that’s a plus.

“Lucky you!” Cor chuckles, “I’m glad you’re having fun!”

“What about you? How’s cheer? Ren?”

“I like it, but Cor’s having issues with one of the girls,” she sighs, “And we don’t know why.”

“I’ve said like two things to her and nothing more!”

“Maybe it’s your natural charm that’s off putting?” Grace teases.

“I look scary, but I’m nice! You guys know that!”

“Not everyone else does, though,” Athena laughs. “What’s her name?”

“Bethany,” Ren says, “Cordelia can barely keep herself from laughing every time someone says it.”

“Maybe that’s why!” Lyn offers.

“I try not to laugh, I swear!” Cordelia defends, putting her hands up, laughing as they turn a corner.

“You know I’d probably hate you,” Phoenix nods, “If I didn’t know you already.”

“How reassuring!”

“Sorry!”

“Anyway, Ren, how is it going for you?” Lyn laughs.

“I enjoy it! And it’s a good way to keep busy!”

“When you’re not with Kookie,” Cordelia teases.

“You’re always with your boyfriend, too, so shut up!” Seren huffs as they walk, Cordelia on her board.

“Lyn, has Jin texted you back?” Cor asks.

“Yes, he wants to meet me today after school…but I don’t know if I can cover…”

“Tell your dad you have to study with me after school. I have to stay for practice, anyway, so just meet him on the field.”

“Really, Cor? Thanks.”

“Eh, it’s no problem. I just hope he grows a pair and asks you out.” She smiles back.

A few minutes later, they reach the school and Cor hops off her board, hugging them each, “I gotta go catch up with the guys! See you all later!”

“Bye!” They call and look at each other, splitting off in separate directions after a few moments, Lyn going to her locker and smiling at her phone, heart beating wildly. Jin could ask her out? That would be…awesome…She hums and tucks her phone away, grabbing her books out.

Phoenix smiles as she passes by her friend on her way to her own locker, a familiar head of orange hair resting on it, “Hey, you,” she smiles and pecks the boy’s lips, “Been here long?”

“Nope,” Hoseok smiles, pulling her close, kissing her again, keeping her pressed against him, “How was your sleepover?”

“It was fine, thanks,” she giggles and turns to open her locker, “How was your night?”

“Same old, same old. I missed you, though.”

“So really the same as always,” she giggles and switches out what she needs with what she doesn’t, packing her bag for her class. “I missed you, too, honestly. But, it was nice to be with my girls.”

“I like that you’re all so close.”

“Me too,” she grins and shuts her locker, taking his hand, “Walk me to class?”

“My pleasure,” he kisses her head as they walk, pulling her close to him, “Plans for tonight?”

“Nope!”

“Dinner?”

“Sounds good.”

“Good, I’ll pick you up and we can go somewhere?”

“Perfect,” she hums as they hit her class and pecks his cheek, “See you later?”

“You bet,” he grins and walks off, touching his cheek gently, bumping into Johnny, “Hey, man. How are you?”

“Good. Beth wanted me to take this to Cordelia, but I have no idea who that i-“

“I can do it?”

“Thank you, man!” He laughs and shakes his hand, handing over the bag to him, “You’re a lifesaver!”

Hoseok rolls his eyes and walks to Cordelia’s locker, handing it over to her, “Take this. From Beth. Signed with xoxo.”

“Yeah. I know what she can kiss,” she takes it, “Oh, it’s my gym bag I left on Friday…that was nice of her…”

“Check it.”

She unzips and examines the contents, shaking her head, “Maybe she’s realizing I’m not evil?” She chuckles and shoves it into her locker. “But, anyway,” she smiles, “Get to class. Don’t be late for her.”

She watches him run off and texts Ren to let her know what happened before she heads into class, sitting and thinking about it, eyebrows furrowed. She’s thrown from it and Namjoon taps her shoulder, “You good, Lia?”

“Yeah, just thinking. Ready for physics?”

“Yes, of course,” he snorts, rolling his eyes. “Fucking nerd.”

The day goes as usual, boring classes and a rowdy lunch, but all Lyn can think about is getting to see Jin at the end of the day. She barely pays attention, finding herself daydreaming about how it could go, until Cordelia takes her arm and smiles, “Ready?”

“Huh?” She blinks, looking at her friend in her cheer uniform.

“To go meet Jin?” She grins.

“Oh, right…” She takes a breath, “Let’s go…”

She walks out of the building and down the street towards their sports field, “You’re nervous, I know, but it’s okay.”

“I hope so…”

“He likes you, Lynnie.”

“Are you sure, Mochi?”

“Yes. Why would I lie to you?”

“…You’re right,” she chuckles and leans on her, “Aren’t football try outs today?”

“Yeah, so you’ll have a lot of noise to block eavesdroppers!”

“My dad is gonna kill me.”

“Ah, come back to planet Earth, Lyn. He has no idea and he never will if no one tells him and no one will. I promise.”

“…Fine. But, if it doesn’t work out…”

“We cross that bridge when we come to it. Now, wait here, and if you need me, I’ll be on the field, okay?”

Cordelia runs off, bumping into one of the guys in the try-out gear and looks up, “Op, sorry, John! ...Wait, you’re trying out?” She smiles.

“It’s okay and yes, I am. Lu and Ren really wanted me too,” he says to the little brunette.

“Good luck! Beth and the girls and I will cheer you on!”

“Thanks, Ronnie!” He laughs as he watches her run off, skirt bouncing with her. He liked Ronnie, but Beth always complained about her to him ever since they started dating a few days after they met. He wasn’t sure what the problem was. He shrugs and jogs onto the field, warming up.

As the guys warm up, Lyn spots the mop of black hair coming over to meet her and her heart stops, eyes widening, “Shit…”

Jin smiles as he sees Lyn and waves, coming right up to her, “Hey, Lyn…”

“Hey, Jin,” she shakes a bit. “What did you wanna talk about?”

“I, uh…I wanted to know if maybe you wanted to see a movie with me or something sometime?”

“Like…a date?”

“Unless you wanna be just friends!”

“…I’d like to go on a date with you.”

“Really?” He beams.

“Yeah,” she grins back, “I like you, Jin.”

“Holy shit,” he blurts and turns pink, “U-uh, that’s…awesome,” he chuckles and bites his lip. “So, it’s a date, then?”

“Yes.”

“…Are you staying here for the practice?”

“Yep.”

“Mind if I…hang out with you here for a bit? I kinda wanna stay.”

“I’d like that,” she grins and leads him to sit on the bleachers with her, watching the players try out, unaware they’d also see the players get cut right then and there. “Oh…brutal,” Lyn gapes as the coach sends a bunch home for various rude reasons.

“That’s sports for ya,” Jin shakes his head, taking her hand suddenly, but trying to be subtle about it.

Lyn squeezes, smiling to herself as she rubs her thumb over the back of his hand. It was nice and comfortable and Lyn couldn’t have been happier. She looks down at the field to watch Cordelia and Seren practice, doing their little cheers and such, performing a few tricks, but basic stuff otherwise. They looked at home there and it warmed Lyn’s heart, making her smile brightly and carefully take a one-handed photo on her cell phone.

“Hey…why don’t we take a photo?” Jin proposes, biting his lip.

“Sure,” she smiles and turns so they’re both in the frame, big smiles and snaps it, giggling, “It looks good. I’ll send it to you later?”

“I’d like that.”

She smiles and pecks his cheek, nuzzling into him a bit as they watch the boys play and try out, before the coach lines them up for his decision.

“John Suh! Congrats!”

Johnny gapes, “Me? Really?”

“Best player here today,” the coach nods, “Alright, hit the showers, guys!” He gruffs and walks off, not even giving them a second glance.

Johnny blinks and walks to the cheer team who are now finished practicing and looks to Seren, Cordelia and Beth. “Guess who you’ll be cheering for?”

Beth gasps and hugs him, pecking his lips, “Good job, baby!”

He hugs her back, laughing, “Guess this means we’ll be seeing even more of each other, eh, Ren? Ronnie?”

“I guess so, Suh dude,” Cordelia laughs at him and shakes her head, grabbing her bag and heading off to Lyn, “Congrats, though!”

“You were great, I’m not surprised you made it,” Seren smiles at him and pats his arm. “Glad to have ya.”

“Thanks, I’m gonna go shower, now, though,” he pecks Beth’s cheek and waves as he runs off.

“Isn’t he dreamy?”

“Sure, Beth.”

“Tell your friend to keep her paws off him, okay?”

“Excuse me? Who?” Seren frowns.

“Ronnie. She’s gotten too flirty with him.”

“She’s dating Taeil. There’s nothing there.”

“Maybe to you, but I can see it.”

“Beth, relax. He likes you. You guys are fine.”

“She can still tone it down.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll tell her,” Seren shakes her head, already thinking Beth was crazy, but now she was super jealous for no reason. She grabs her bag and heads over to Cordelia and Lyn, “I know why Beth hates you.”

“You do? Why?”

“She thinks you want Johnny.”

“Seriously?! I barely fucking know him!”

“I know, but she’s crazy.”

“Jesus,” she laughs, rolling her eyes. “Should have her stay over and invite Taeil to come over. See how much I want her weirdly tall boyfriend,” she shakes her head.

“Just thought you should know.”

“Thanks, Ren.” She hugs her friend and lets Lyn say goodbye to Jin before they walk back to the school, Cor pulling her sweats and tank top on over her uniform, hiding it from Lyn’s dad under her windbreaker. She waves as she’s picked up and skates home, racking her brain to think of any way that she’d flirted with Johnny in the slightest and comes up empty. Great. This would be fun.

Across town, Hoseok is picking up Pheonix to hang out at the park for a while and watch a movie. He smiles as he waits after he knocks, making sure he looked prim and proper, just in case.

She answers and grins, “Hi, babe!” She shuts the door and Hoseok takes in the view of her, nice jeans and a cute top, all around fashionable and pretty as usual. He offers his arm and leads her to his car, letting her in then getting in and driving off, “I figure tacos and maybe a Naruto movie?”

“Oh, really?”

“Did I figure wrong?” He asks as he drives to their favourite spot.

“Honestly, no. You know me too well,” she giggles and relaxes in her seat. It was odd for freshman to drive, but a she knew Hoseok had been admitted late and was a year older than the rest of their class each year, so she got used to it pretty quickly, especially since it meant they could see each other often.

She looks over and smiles as she watches him drive, the smell of food from the backseat letting her jnow he’d planned this already. She hums and offers her hand, which he takes and squeezes, resting their joined hands on the center console. “How did I get so lucky?”

“I don’t know, how did I?” Hoseok kisses her hand and chuckles.

“Sap.”

“Cheeseball.” He teases back as he park the car and hops out, getting her door and the food from the back, leading her to the picnic tables, setting up his laptop and mini-speaker. “My lady,” he motions to the bench as he lays his jacket down in it for her.

“Oh, thank you,” she giggles and sits down, Hoseok sitting across from her, passing her, her food and pressing play on the movie, not really watching as he eats, but leaving it on for her, because he knows how much she likes it and it was worth it to see the smile on her face.

She ends up falling asleep after and he drives her home carefully, so as not to wake her, carrying her up to the door and knocking, handing her off to her dad, “She fell asleep in the park and I didn’t want to wake her.”

“Thank you, Hoseok. Good night.”

“Night, Sir,” he nods and heads back to his house, smiling to himself as he slips into bed, sending a nice text to Phoenix, thanking her for their date, before he drifts off.

The next few days were uneventful to say the least, until Thursday, the day of Lyn and Jin’s date and the girls were gathered at Cordelia’s ‘studying’ as they helped Lyn get ready. “Are you excited?” Cor asks as she helps her pick out clothes to wear.

“I’m so beyond excited, it’s insane!” Lyn blushes, “I’m going on my first date, ladies!”

“Yes you are,” Kiara smiles and helps with the jewelry and such with Phoenix. “He’s not gonna know what hit him!”

Cor helps Lyn get into the outfit and situated while Grace sets to work on hair and light make-up, something that will just wipe off easy at the end of the night.

“You look stunning,” Seren gasps as Lyn steps out of the bathroom after Grace is finished with her.

“Even more so than usual,” Cordelia agrees and the other just nod. “Alright, let’s go. He’ll be waiting, Lynderella.” She winks and the girls groan at her corny joke, even Lyn. She leads them upstairs and grabs her keys, her mom collecting cheek kisses.

“Be safe and have fun girls!”

“We will!” They call back.

“Good luck, Lyn!”

“Thanks, mom!” Lyn says as she heads out.

“I love you!”

“I love you too, Momma!” Cor calls back, laughing as she shuts the door and somehow manages to fit everyone in her two-door, quite illegally, but they weren’t going far enough for it to really matter. They just needed to get there and back. No sweat. Cordelia drives off, smiling over at Lyn who sits on Athena’s lap in the front seat, “Don’t be nervous. You’ll do just fine and we’ll be there just outside.”

“I know, but…it’s scary…”

“First dates are supposed to be scary, so you can realize they aren’t all that bad and the rest don’t seem so bad.” She smiles and shrugs. “Kinda like life. The first 25 years are rough, but I’ve been told it gets better.”

“Please never become a life counselor,” Athena laughs from under Lyn, “Jesus, Cor.”

“What? I thought it was kinda comforting?”

“Well, you thought wrong.”

Cor snorts as she drives them to the little mall with the movie theater inside, letting them all pile out as she parks and shuts off the car, helping them out of the back. “Okay, if you need us, send an emoji to the group chat.”

“We’ll be in a movie theater, Cor…”

“So? If you need us, you need us. Simple as that.”

She sighs and nods, hugging them each as she heads to the movie theater, the girls watching from a bit away, making sure she was okay before they headed to get food. They sit in the plaza in the middle of the mall, near the theater and eat their food, getting rowdy and loud as usual, but respectful still to those around them.

Cor ends up challenging Ren to a game of giant checkers and they go at it for over half an hour as the other girls root on who they want to win and trash talk the other, Athena and Phoenix on Ren’s cheer team, Kiara and Grace on Cor’s. Cor laughs as she gets close, “Uh oh, looks like we have a winn-No!” She gasps as Seren wins the game with her next move and groans. “Dammit. Okay. Good game,” she shakes her head, laughing, “I'm no longer the champion.”

“You’ve been dethroned,” Seren laughs, nudging her friend.

“The utter disrespect,” she laughs and shakes her head, checking her phone for the third time that night, before looking around, “Taeil, Kookie and Jae said they were here…” Then squeaks as she’s lifted from behind.

“Hello, little one,” Jaehyun laughs and puts her down, kissing her cheek before letting her go to Taeil. “How are we today, ladies?” He smiles and sits with them.

“Just fine. But, I got my ass handed to me in checkers,” Cor laughs as he hugs Taeil.

“By who?”

“By me,” Seren says proudly, leaning back into Jungkook who raps his arms around her shoulders and holds her to him.

“Oh did you?” Jungkook smiles.

“I’m the best, what can I say?”

“I will defend my lady’s honour, then,” Taeil nods, “I challenge you to a duel, Serenity Kai.”

“Bad idea, but okay,” she grins and gives him his checkers, setting her own up on her side. “You move first, I’ll give you the leeway.”

“Ooh a challenge,” Taeil chuckles and moves his piece, Cor cheering him on as Jungkook boos him, the two of them trash talking each other, now.

Phoenix films some of it and posts it, captioning it, “Dumbasses in love.” She chuckles and cheers on Seren again, trash talking Taeil.

Another half hour later, Taeil is declared the winner and Seren groans, “Dammit.”

“That’s my dude!” Cor laughs and pecks Taeil’s lips, “Now, if only I could do that,” she laughs.

“You’ll get better with practice, you can’t rush perfection,” Seren teases, laughing as she cuddles against her boyfriend.

Cor chuckles and looks up as the movie theater starts to let out, spotting Lyn leaning on Jin with a smile on her face as they walk. “She looks so happy…”

“Guessing her date went well,” Jaehyun says as he picks off Cordelia’s left over food.

“We’ll find out soon enough,” she smiles as Lyn says bye to her date as he goes to catch his ride and she heads to the group.

“Hi,” she sighs dreamily, plopping onto one of the chairs around them, “He’s wonderful.”

“Oh? Care to elaborate?”

“He bought our tickets and meal and he was so polite and held my hand the whole time and…he’s such a sweet guy and I like him a lot.”

“I think he likes you a lot, too, Lyn,” she smiles at her friend and rubs her shoulders. “You two looked pretty loved up, I gotta admit.”

“I hope we go on another date. And soon. I’ve never felt like this, ya know?”

“I do,” she smiles, looking at Taeil with a blush who blows her a kiss.

“We should get home, so I don’t show up late,” Lyn sighs.

“Yeah…but, hey, you can come over again tomorrow and we can hear all about it in detail?”

“Sounds great,” she stands and leans on her friend as the group heads out of the mall.

“Okay, who wants to go with Taeil? I’ll take the others.”

Seren and Phoenix volunteer to go with the boys, so Athena, Grace, Kiara and Lyn get back in Cor’s car, waiting for their friend who’s currently pressed against the van, face attached to Taeil’s. “Come on!” Kiara calls out the window, laughing.

“Fine,” Cor groans and pulls back, getting the car and waving as they drive off separate directions, gping to drop Lyn off first. They make it there with fifteen minutes to spare and Cor goes to the door with her for her dad’s peace of mind.

She then drops off Grace and Athena at Athena’s house, the two staying the night together, Cor waving as she watches them go inside, letting Kiara hop up in front.

“So, you and Beth.”

“Huh?”

“I heard from Seren.”

“…I don’t know what she means by it. I barely know Johnny, let alone flirt with him!” She laughs as she drives, “Why do crazies flock to me?”

“I don’t know,” Kiara laughs as she looks at her surrogate sister, “Do you like him? Johnny?”

“I literally don’t know him well enough to even have an opinion.”

“Do you wanna know him better?”

“As a friend, sure.”

“Just as a friend?”

“Why would I want something more? I have Taeil.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Kiara nods.

She guessed so? Cordelia wanted to press the issue, but it was giving her a headache, so she dropped it and the two chattered about nonsense and sang along obnoxiously to the radio, laughing with each other. She drops Kiara off and heads home, wandering to herself what she’d meant by guessing so.

She had Taeil. Taeil and her were in love.

She groans as she changes and climbs into bed, shaking her head to try to stop thinking about it, but it didn’t help. She sighs and sits up, writing out exactly how she felt about Taeil, her heart thumping wildly, then she opens a new document and writes anything she can think of about how she feels about Johnny and comes up very short.

She lays back and lets out a breath of air. What was it with everyone wanting her and that giant to interact?  
She rolls her eyes and pushes her laptop away, putting in her night guard and her hair up, willing herself to sleep. She tosses and turns, trying to think of Taeil and her, but failing, not able to get Kiara’s words out of her head. She heads upstairs and gets some water, thinking it over. She was happy with Taeil and he was happy with her. So, why the sudden worry?

She didn’t know. She groans and heads back downstairs, burying her face in her pillow and yelling into it before putting in her headphones and blasting her eardrums to shit, trying to get herself right again. Eventually, she falls asleep, and she’d thank any power above that her dreams were not filled with the tall man who would now haunt her days.


	3. Well, She's A Punk Punk, A Punk Rocker (Week 3) (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bloody fights, beating hearts and belly laughs.

“RORY!” Cordelia yells as she runs down the halls, all pink lipstick and curled pigtails, practice clothes on, “RORY!”

“Cory, whoah!” She catches her as she skids, “What?!”

“W-we got the gig! Cleo got the gig!”

“You did?! That’s great!”

“Taeil is so excited! He went to tell Jae and Kook! I can’t believe it!”

“When is it?”

“Tonight. Please tell me you can come!”

“Of course. Mom would want me there to support.”

“You’re awesome! Here! Taeil grabbed fliers, so,” she pulls one out and gives it to her, “Don’t be late! And bring people with!”

“Yeah, yeah,” she laughs as Cordelia runs off, seemingly having spotted someone else, someone named Mark? Nope. No bells.

Leave it to me to be a late transfer my first year of high school, Mark thinks to himself as he walks into the building, looking around. It was clogged with loads of people, of all types and he adjusts his beanie to try and blend in, before he hears his name.

“Mark! Mark Lee!” Cordelia rushes up to him, “No shit, it’s really you!” She gasps and hugs him.

“Cordelia?” He laughs as he hugs her back, “You go here?”

“Yes! Holy shit, how are you?” She pulls back to hold his elbows, looking at him, “I missed you.”

“I missed you too and I’m good. How are you?”

“I’m okay, a bit nervous, honestly…” Mark admits.

“First day jitters, I get it,” she nods, “I’ve been there, too, but you’ve got me to help you out.” Cordelia smiles and links their arms, walking him to the office, “Let’s go get you set up, okay?”

“Thanks, man,” Mark chuckles as they walk, “Are you still with Taeil?”

“Yes, I am.”

“That’s great!”

She leads him into the office, “Go sit and get your photo.” She motions and the people in the office give Mark what he needs to get started, Cordelia leading him to his locker, “Here we are.”

“Thanks,” he smiles and unlocks it, putting his books in and looking at her, “So, why are you here early? And why are you dressed like that?” He motions to her sweatpants and tank top.

“My friend’s running for student council,” she points to the posters of Athena, “So we came early to put up her campaign posters. And I have cheer today and this is easier to change out of and into.”

“That’s nice of you,” Mark chuckles and slings his bag onto his shoulder.

“Seems I like having a busy schedule lately,” Cordelia says, looking at the frayed strings on Mark’s denim jacket and leaning forward to pick at them gently. “But, when did you move out here?”

“Two days ago…It was pretty weird,” he shakes his head, “I totally forgot you lived out here…”

“Obviously or you would’ve texted me!”

Mark chuckles and shuts his locker, “You’re right, it’s my bad.” He pulls his beanie down again and gives Cordelia a quick hug, “Thanks for not ignoring me.”

“You too, bud,” Cordelia smiles and hugs him back, “Glad I saw you…Hey, what lunch do you have?”

“Um…A.”

“Awesome, I’ll see you then? I gotta get to physics.”

“Nerd,” he teases as she rushes off down the hallway and it was true. She was a nerd. At least from what Mark had learned about her in the past year. She valued academics, even if she was a punk. Like he was a Christian, but a punk, as well. That’s why they clicked. He smiles as he heads off to his first class and he goes through the awkward introductions as were customary, until he finally could get to see his friend again at lunch. He goes through the line and looks around when he steps out, not seeing Cordelia anywhere and starting to nibble his lower lip.

Cordelia grabs his arm and tugs, “Hey, come on, let’s go somewhere we can catch up?” She smiles brightly at him, leading him off to one of the classrooms, where she knew the teacher and were able to sit in for lunch. “How’s your first day?”

“It’s…okay. I hate being the new kid, though.”

“Don’t worry. I doubt you’ll be the new kid for long.” She shrugs.

“Yeah?”

She nods and picks at her lunch, “Hey, I totally forgot! You wanna come to something fun tonight?”

“Sure, what?”

“My band is playing our first gig and well…It’s free and it’ll be fun and very our scene,” she smiles and takes a flyer out of her bag, handing it over to him.

He looks it over, “Which one’s yours?”

“Cleo VS The Giant.”

“That’s…creative, I like it.” Mark chuckles, “Who’s in it with you?”

“Taeil and our friends, Jaehyun and Jungkook. I’m really excited about it…I’ve been in it for a few months, now.”

“That’s fuckin’ cool!” He grins and nods, “I’ll be there. Definitely. Thank you.”

“And, thank you.” She leans back and sighs as the bell rings a little while later, “Guess we have to part?” She chuckles and stands, tossing her garbage, “See you tonight!”

“See ya!” He heads out after her and walks towards his next class, passing by a groaning giant and a seemingly really excited elf.

“Jooooo.” Seren grins up at her friend.

“Just tell me what you want?” Johnny groans as she baby voices him for the fifth time in a row.

“Wanna go somewhere tonight?” She bounces.

“Like where?”

“To a concert.” She waves a flyer around.

“A concert? Who’s playing?”

“A friend’s band.”

“Which friend?”

“Kook’s.”

“Oh, you mean, you want me to third wheel so you can see your boyfriend sweat on stage?”

“Among other things?”

“…fine.”

“And you can bring Beth,” she offers, shrugging.

“Concerts aren’t really her thing,” he shakes his head and takes the flyer from his best friend’s hand, looking it over, “Which one is his band?”

“Cleo VS the Giant.”

“…I like it,” he nods, “What kind of music is it?”

“Uh…underground stuff. Really our scene,” she lies through her teeth, knowing Johnny would never agree to a punk band show.

“So, am I driving us?”

“Yes, please?”

“I’ll pick you up at six so we can be a little early, okay?”

“Yes. And wear something…grungey?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” he laughs as he parts ways with her to go to class.

After school, he grabs his things from his locker and heads home, having walked in the nicer weather, watching as that stupid van from a few weeks ago pulls out from the parking lot. He rolls his eyes as he walks home and tells his mom he’ll be leaving around 5:30 to pick up Seren before going upstairs to straighten up and pick out his outfit for the night. Ren said grungey, so at least he didn’t have to dress up or anything, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t look nice.

He opts for some black jeans and a black-button down with a moon on the lapel and an astronaut popping out of the breast pocket, before he looks in the mirror and styles his hair. It had grown out from his undercut, so it made it easier to toss around, letting it fall aimlessly, a small section of it hanging down over his left eye, but he didn’t mess with it further, it looked natural this way. He grabs one of his dangly chain earrings and slips it through, completing his look, smiling at himself in the mirror, “Damn, Suh. You clean up well.”

He chuckles and walks back into his room to lace up his boots and grabs what he needs out his bag, stuffing his pockets before he heads back downstairs to grab a snack with his mom before he left. He tells her where he’s going and that he won’t be back super late, but not to wait up.

“Be careful, my son?”

“I promise,” he smiles and kisses her cheek, checking his watch. Time flew by since he’d gotten home and he needed to go get Ren, soon.

Ren, however, was in a crisis. “I don’t know what to wear! Why did this have to be tonight?!” She shakes her head and sits on her floor, cross-legged, “Okay, what would Kookie want me to wear? …I can’t wear that…” She snorts and finally gives up, video chatting Athena, the resident fashion friend.

“Hey, Ren, what’s up?”

“I need help!”

“With?”

“What to wear to Cordelia’s concert tonight. You’re going, right?”

“Of course! Now…” She taps her chin, “Do you have anything…edgy? Maybe like a band shirt or something?”

She groans to herself and looks through her shirts again, grabbing one of the ones Cordelia gave her after she grew out of it, some random band logo on it, “I have this?” She shows her.

“What’s it say?”

“…The Exploited?”

Athena grabs a notebook from her desk, flipping through it, “Um…that works!”

“What’s that?”

“I write down bands Cordelia has mentioned before so I can research a few songs for when she comes over.”

“…That’s incredibly sweet.”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s find pants! Black is ideal.”

“Black, black, black. That’s kind of all I own.” She laughs, opening her drawer.

“Ripped.”

“Ripped…got ‘em!”

“Okay and boots. I know sneakers are comfy, but boots are more optimal.”

“Heel?”

“Yes.”

“Okay,” she grabs a pair.

“And a jean jacket.”

She looks through her closet and grab hers out, “Okay! Hold on!” She moves out of view and dresses before showing her, “Look good?”

“Looks perfect!” Athena grins, “That it?”

“Yeah, Johnny is gonna be here, soon. Thank you. See you there?”

“Anytime. See ya!”

Seren hangs up and looks in the mirror before she packs her small bag, slinging it over her shoulder, just her keys, phone and wallet, really and some lip gloss, along with one of the mixed CDs Cordelia made her. “Okay…” She kneels down and kisses her dog, Onyx’s, nose through his crate, “I’ll be back later, buddy. You be good.”

She hops up and walks out to her living room, “Ma! I gotta leave soon!” She picks up her baby brother, Raiden and kisses his head, “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, buddy?”

He babbles at her and bounces in her arms, wiggling about before making grabby hands as Ren’s mom comes in, “Johnny picking you up?”

“Yeah, he should get here in a minute.”

“Be careful, okay?”

“Of course,” she kisses her cheek, then smiles as the doorbell rings. “That would be him!”

“Let him in,” she laughs, bouncing Raiden.

She runs over to the door and opens it, “Hey, Joh-Woah.” She lets out a laugh, covering her mouth.

“Oh god, it’s bad.”

“No, no,” her mom says, laughing softly to herself, trying to hold back. “You look…different is all. Really. It’s fine…Duke of Darkness.” Then bursts into laugher.

“Mom!” Johnny whines, “Come on!”

“You look cute, John,” Seren manages and hugs her mom, “Bye, Ma.” Before dipping out, laughing as she walks to his car.

“Bye, Mom,” John huffs and hugs her, kissing Raiden’s head as he heads out.

“Bye! Drive safe! Have fun!” She calls, catching her breath from laughing.

Johnny sighs and gets in the car, Ren cackling, “Shut up!”

“You just…who are you trying to impress, baby?” She shakes her head.

“No one! I just thought it might look appropriate!”

“You…really went all out.”

“I hate you.”

She snorts as they start driving, leaning back as she pops in the disc from her bag, turning the volume up a bit as a guitar, drums and a yelling voice flooded through the speakers.

“What is this?” Johnny frowns, turning it down.

“They’re called Circle Jerks.”

“They’re called what?!” He blinks. “Do you know what that means?!”

“Should I?”

“…No. And I won’t soil it for you.” He shakes his head, “Anyway, since when do you listen to this music?”

“Cordelia made it for me.”

“Then, Cordelia has shit taste.”

She snorts, smirking to herself as they travel to where they need to go, hopping out when they finally arrive, “Come on!”

The building was an old run-down brick warehouse, but the music was blaring and the parking lot around them was packed, so it was brought back to life. “Where are we?” He asks, getting out and locking his car, looking around, “This is the underground concert?”

“Kinda?” She smirks and drags him inside, into a world of ripped pants, Mohawks and piercings. 

“No,” Johnny groans, “Punks. Really?” He shakes his head.

“Yes. And you have to come with me. Or else I might die.”

He looks down, groaning as she pouts at him, “Oh my god. Okay. Fine.”

She pulls him along, grinning as she sees Jungkook and Jaehyun, “Hey! Guys!”

“Ren! You made it!” Kook picks her up and pecks her lips, smiling at Johnny, “Hey, man. Nice of you to come out.”

“She made me.”

“Well, that’s way harsh,” comes a giggle from behind Taeil, where he has said voice pressed against a wall.

“Way harsh,” Jaehyun agrees, laughing softly as he nods at Ren and Johnny, “Bring anyone else?”

“No, just us. But the other girls are coming.”

“Awesome!” Jungkook grins and puts her down. “Johnny, you’ve met Taeil, right?”

“I’ve seen him around, like at lunch, but we’ve never been introduced, no.”

“Taeil…Taeil.”

“Mmm?” He peeks up.

“Introduce yourself.”

“Right, right,” he spins him and his girl, “I’m Taeil, man. Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Johnny nods, biting his lip. “You in the band?”

“Lead singer, my guy.” He chuckles. “You’ve met Cordy, right?”

“Cordelia something, right? No, I can’t say I have.”

Seren looks puzzled, then realizes he’s only really met her once under the name Ronnie and holds her breath, trying not to laugh.

“Hey, lookit, Cordy. Lookit.” Taeil tries to get his girlfriend to turn and face the newcomers, but she busies herself with his neck. “This is Cordelia. She's 15. She looks a lot older. She looks older 'cause this lifestyle really hardens you. It takes the piss out of you. Now this girl...absolutely beautiful, sweet as pie...is the greatest child God ever put on this earth...but you do not wanna mess with her when she hasn't had her medication...in a dark, deserted alley…She will, I repeat, _she will,_ rip your head off. This girl is a carnivore.” He pulls her head back from his neck by her hair, revealing a dark purple mark where her mouth was, “Look. Carnivore.”

She turns her head to Johnny, “NOM NOM NOM!”

“Be careful.”

Johnny’s eyes widen as he looks from the neck to the girl, “Holy shit…Ronnie?!”

“Hiya, John…And actually, it’s Cordelia,” she giggles, leaning back against Taeil, in a clash tank-top and some plaid pants, cuffed to show off her beloved Doc Marten’s, beat up and scuffed from just one year of use.

“I…what?” He blinks, but he’s quickly knocked out of his thoughts.

“MARK! Holy shit, okay, so there’s a lot of posers here, but not this guy!” Cordelia grabs Mark’s shirt as he walks towards them and pulls him next to her. “I know, I know. Glasses, polo, seems like a nerd. But, he’s not. He’s on the most hardcore guys in the scene! Here, Seren, remember that guy who made fun of me in pre-algebra last year because I looked like a lesbian?”

“Yeah…”

Cordelia leans up and whispers in Mark’s ear and points off, giggling as he walks away, “Watch!” Mark heads straight over to a guy near the back and grips the back of his head, smacking it against the wall before walking back, dropping the guy’s beanie on the floor. “See what I mean?! Punk rock!” She laughs and hugs Mark’s shoulders, kissing his cheek.

“Wow…” Seren blinks and shakes her head.

“Oh!” Jaehyun gasps as someone whispers in his ear, “We’re up, guys!”

“See you guys after!” Taeil laughs as they disappear, the other members of their group showing up behind the rest of them.

Seren helps them get to the front row and they take up a pretty good chunk of space before the band takes the stage. Kiara whistles next to her, in a graphic top and blue jeans, looking out of place. “Who’s that?” Johnny asks softly.

“Cordelia’s sister, Kiara.”

“They’re related?!”

“Relax and listen to the music, John!” She grins as she turns back to the stage, the group starting up with a song with only the words sex and violence coming out of Taeil’s mouth as he jumps around on stage.

Johnny stares in awe, watching Cordelia beat the shit out of the drums, the same girl he knew as Ronnie with her curled ponytail and pink lipstick…He shakes his head and finds himself liking the music a little throughout the set, not that he’d ever tell Seren.

After the set, they’re all waiting for the band and cheer when they come to greet them, giggling amongst themselves as Taeil hangs on Jaehyun and Kookie heads right for Seren, Cordelia dragging behind the two boys, bobbing her head.

“AMAZING!” Mark runs forward and scoops up Cordelia, “You were amazing!”

“Thanks, Mark!” She laughs and hugs him when he puts her down, “What did you guys all think?!”

It was then Johnny noticed that she’d changed her bottoms into ripped shorts and fishnets, making him gulp a bit. He’d admit, scary was kind of hot. Beth. Think about Beth. Relax. He shakes his head and then smiles, “Even though I’m not usually one for it, I kinda liked it.” He sighs in relief as he doesn’t hear Seren tease him over it.

The rest of the group congratulates them as Taeil starts to gravitate back behind Cordelia, mouthing at her neck and making her drop her head back. He looks away, “Ren, I wanna go ho-Ren?” He frowns, looking around, but she’s nowhere to be seen. He wants to call, but the music is too loud, “Shit, where is she?”

“Dude, don’t be alarmed, but I saw her and Kookie go back to the floor over there. Maybe they’re watching the band.” Jaehyun says, next to Johnny.

“Oh, uh, thanks,” he nods, looking out in the crowd.

What he couldn’t see was Seren, pressed between Jungkook and a wall, off to the side of the crowd, legs around his waist, pants around her thighs. He grips her sides as he thrusts into her, the music and the crowd bumping them a bit driving him on, “Fuck, Ren,” he breathes, catching her bottom lip between his teeth.

Seren grips his back, groaning against his mouth, panting softly as she clenches around, already close and they had barely started, but something about it made her nuts. She whines and tugs his hair as he moves to mark up her chest, tilting her head so he can access it better, tugging her collar down some.

“Fuck!” He grunts and his hips stutter, unloading deep in her, groaning as he feels her spasm to finish around him, “Holy shit, baby…”

She laughs and kisses him again, sighing as he slips out of her and lets her down so she can pull her pants back up, “We should get back…”

“No. That would make it more suspicious.” He presses her back to the wall and kisses her again, sucking on her lower lip.

The others have started to move towards the back of the crowd to watch the band and so that they could actually see Seren before someone knocks the couple over and yells something. In a flash, Mark is there and throwing the guy into the wall before checking on the two and moving them back to the group. “Asshole!” He shouts back before he gets tackled by two more guys, who start to kick and yell at him.

He manages to sweep one’s feet and take him out, flipping them so he can punch his face, sitting on his chest. As the other goes for Mark, Cordelia jumps on his back and starts clawing at his face, digging her boots into his sides which makes him try to fling her off. She jumps down and spins him around, kneeing him in the nuts, not seeing the other guy from earlier run over to them, Taeil landing a solid blow to the guy’s nose.

Before anyone knows it, it’s an all-out brawl between seven unknown guys and Mark, Jaehyun, Jungkook, Cordelia and Taeil as well as Namjoon and Yoongi who have stepped in to even the odds. It’s bloody and the rest of the group are watching, shell-shocked, some of the girls cheering them on, though. The band members and their friends link together and shove the other group to the ground before they book it, urging the rest of the group to follow, “COME ON! RUN!”

They laugh as they book it out, piling into different cars and speeding off before the other group can even get out of the building, pulling into some tree-covered filed, turning off their headlights. 

Taeil rolls down his window and presses his finger to his lips, looking to all of them, nodding as a few cars speed passed. He then, hops out and opens the back of the van, laughing as everyone gets out of their cars and gathers around the van, “Holy shit, that was insane!” He looks in the mirror Cordelia hands him as she tends to Jaehyun’s cut open eyebrow. He wipes the blood from under his nose and chuckles, shaking his head, “Fucker got me good. You guys, okay?”

Namjoon nods, his jaw starting to bruise as Yoongi seems unscathed, “We’re good.”

“I think my eye is gonna swell, but otherwise, I’ll be fine,” Jungkook answers.

“A few bruises and maybe some cuts, but nothing too serious. I did the other guys worse,” Mark says a little too casually.

“Jaehyun’s got a cut on his eyebrow, but otherwise he’s fine.” Cordelia answers.

“And what about you, baby?” Taeil laughs.

“She’s got a pretty busted lip and a bloody nose, too,” Mark answers for her.

“But, you’re all okay, thank god,” Lyn shakes her head and hugs each of them, Taeil holding her for extra, since he’s last.

“Of course we are, Lynnie Bean,” he chuckles and kisses her temple, “Stop worrying so much.”

“That’s impossible to do with y’all!”

Cordleia snorts, smiling to herself as she hops out of the van, Kiara immediately coming to check on her, snuggling into her sister’s side. “We’re sorry. We’ll be more careful, next time.”

“You better be or _I’ll_ be the one beating your asses,” Lyn shakes her head, laughing a bit.

“Alright, who’s down for McDonald’s?!” Jungkook laughs.

The group cheers and pile back into their cars and drive off, pulling up to a local McDonald’s and piling out again, looking like the most mismatched group there could be. Athena, Grace, Lyn and Mark dressed nicely, Nix, Ren, Johnny, Namjoon and Yoongi dressed like they just came out of a Hot Topic and Jungkook, Cordelia, Taeil and Jaehyun dressed like 90’s punk kids. Not to mention six of them looked roughed up and had some blood on their clothes.

The cashier looks up nervously, but Namjoon walks up and orders a bunch of food for them as they sit at a few tables, not bothering to move them, but talk across the distance instead. They discuss the concert and Johnny keeps finding himself staring at Cordelia’s lip until she’s directly across from him somehow with a big smirk. “Can I help you with something, Suh?”

“Wh-what?” He gulps.

“You keep staring at me.”

“Does it hurt?”

“What? My nose or my lip?”

“Your lip.”

“Only a little, but not too much. Why?”

“Just curious, I guess?” He mumbles as their food comes.

“Aw, are you worried for me, John? That’s sweet.” She pats his hand.

Johnny blushes a little and shrugs, stuffing his face full of food as he avoids looking at her, now sitting on Kiara’s lap. He smiles around at the scene taking place, their friends tossing straw wrappers and fries at each other, laughing and talking and genuinely enjoying each other’s company. Maybe punks weren’t so bad.

He looks up as Cordelia smiles at him and leans over to kiss cheek before smearing ketchup on his nose and cackling. He playfully glares and wipes it off with a napkin before tossing a fry at her which she fails to catch and nearly falls under the table, making him belly laugh.

Yeah…if Cordelia was a punk…

Maybe they weren’t all that bad…


End file.
